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Herzberg’s management theory provides the tools to both satisfy and motivate employees.
Herzberg’s management theory provides the tools to both satisfy and motivate employees.
Keeping employees engaged takes more than a competitive paycheck. In Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2026 Report, just 20 percent of employees worldwide were engaged at work in 2025. For business owners, that means it is worth examining both working conditions and the work employees do.
Frederick Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory separates conditions that can create dissatisfaction, such as unfair pay or poor supervision, from parts of a job that can create satisfaction, such as achievement and growth. Understanding both can help you address employee concerns and design more rewarding roles.
Herzberg contributed greatly to the human relations school of management through his insights into employee satisfaction and motivation. Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory, also known as the two-factor theory, covers what he called the “hygiene factor” and the “motivation factor.” According to his theory, hygiene factors are the extrinsic conditions, or environmental factors, that determine employees’ satisfaction levels.
Herzberg’s theory states that although negative hygiene factors (such as low pay, poor working conditions, and a lack of job security) cause job dissatisfaction, positive hygiene factors (such as status, good ergonomics, and worker-friendly policies) simply satisfy basic employee needs while exerting no effect on motivation.
Motivational factors, by contrast, are the positive influences that cause an employee to want to do a better job. According to Herzberg’s theory, motivational factors can be either extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic motivating factors include recognition, advancement, and increasing levels of responsibility, whereas intrinsic motivating factors include achievement, growth, and interest.
Herzberg suggested arranging work for job enlargement, job rotation, or job enrichment to motivate employees. He said employers must increase their employees’ motivational factors while improving workplace hygiene to boost productivity.
Herzberg’s theory defines “motivator” factors as conditions that give employees a greater sense of purpose and fulfillment in their roles. Some motivating factors are creative independence, opportunities for advancement, status, employee recognition and a sense of achievement.
The retention challenges facing businesses today largely stem from employees’ motivating factors going unmet. Kara Lambert, a business psychology consultant, mindset coach, speaker and thought leader, noted that many of the commonly cited reasons why employees quit are intrinsic motivating factors.
“Commentary through [the early] COVID [pandemic] pointed to a misalignment of employee and employer values and a greater need for employees to have their sense of purpose fulfilled,” Lambert said. “These findings were particularly prevalent in millennial and Gen Z employees, and are trends that continue today.”
If you’re looking to implement aspects of Herzberg’s management theory, below are some tips to get started.
Numerous resources — including books, podcasts, and tutorials — can provide valuable information about Herzberg’s theory. You’ll find videos, instructional materials, diagrams and summaries of Herzberg’s motivation principles that can help you develop the background knowledge to put the theories to work for your company.
Consultants with knowledge and experience in Herzberg’s management theory can guide you in maximizing the benefit of his principles in your company’s unique environment. If hiring a consultant to help tackle the work isn’t in your budget, you can begin evaluating your company’s current status to get a sense of your workforce’s overall job satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
Herzberg took inspiration from Abraham Maslow’s theory of self-actualization, more commonly known as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and applied some of those principles to the workplace.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that for humans to achieve self-actualization — or the motivation to become the best possible version of themselves — their most basic needs must be met first. With Herzberg’s theory, the same idea applies to evaluating your company culture to determine how well your current policies meet your employees’ motivation and hygiene needs.
Maslow’s theory of self-actualization states that humans possess two different sets of needs: deficiency needs, which cover the bottom four tiers of his model (physiological needs, safety and security, love and belonging, and self-esteem), and growth needs, which is the top tier of self-actualization. Herzberg’s theory makes a similar distinction between workplace “motivator” and “hygiene” factors.
Herzberg’s hygiene factors equate to what Maslow considered the most basic needs. Once your company meets those requirements, your workforce should feel stable and supported enough to be motivated to perform their roles as well as possible.
Below are some hygiene factors to consider:
Poll your workforce to see how well your company meets your employees’ hygiene and motivation needs. Then meet with your senior leadership team and HR department to review the results, determine the next steps and coordinate efforts to implement change.
“Employee engagement surveys and focus groups and interviews can help organizations have a good and systemic listening program to identify hot spots and issues that can be addressed quickly,” said Carolyn Troyan, president and CEO of Leadership 360.
Ask employees which parts of their work feel worthwhile, what slows them down and which decisions they could make with more authority. Use confidential feedback where possible, and explain how you will protect it. If you need outside help with policy reviews or manager training, see our guide to the best HR outsourcing services.
Once you have employee feedback, it can be difficult to discern where to go next. Here are some strategies for addressing your employees’ concerns:
Ensure adequate resources. Make sure people have the equipment, software and other resources needed to do their jobs.
Connect with employees. Determine which departments are the lowest-performing and which have the lowest job satisfaction. Connect with those employees and ask specific questions about the changes they’d like to see, including opportunities for advancement, additional training and more responsibility. Pay attention to employee hygiene needs as well.
Maintain open communication. Institute channels through which employees and managers regularly connect to share feedback, including one-on-one meetings, annual performance reviews and mentorship programs. Improving manager and employee relations can help improve employee job satisfaction and reduce turnover rates.
Stay interviews are an excellent way to connect with employees, keep the lines of communication open and determine their satisfaction levels.
Troyan emphasized that Herzberg’s suggestion to implement job rotation is well worth considering when businesses look to improve conditions for low-performing, unsatisfied employees.
“Many companies focus on promotion and compensation as the main levers [instead of] looking at how to develop leaders and employees laterally, studying what makes high performers successful in critical roles and helping employees grow in those areas,” Troyan said. “Not all roles are created equal. Do you know the most critical roles at your company and how engaged employees are in those roles? While you want the overall experience to be great for everyone, focusing on the high-impact functions is a good place to start.”
According to Herzberg, allowing employees more responsibility and independence in their roles imparts a sense of fulfillment and achievement, motivating them to take pride in their work and strive to improve and grow. When employees are encouraged to take ownership of their projects, it also reinforces that they are valued members of the organization whose insight and expertise genuinely matter.
Other ways to make employees feel appreciated and valued include formal employee recognition programs, weekly check-ins and positive informal feedback.
Choose one or two changes to test with a team. Record a starting point for employee feedback and an operational measure, such as error rates or customer complaint resolution. Revisit both after 60 to 90 days, checking whether employees experienced more ownership or simply more work. Adjust responsibilities and resources appropriately.
Treat the two-factor theory as a discussion framework rather than a proven formula. Researchers have challenged the separation between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, as well as the influence of socially desirable answers on research. A study by University of Nottingham researchers questioned the theory’s account of job attitudes while acknowledging that job enrichment could still be useful.
For your business, the practical lesson is to check in with your employees. Pay can carry meanings beyond purchasing power, including fairness and recognition. More responsibility can feel like growth to one person and a burden to another. Measure satisfaction and performance separately; an improvement in one does not guarantee an improvement in the other.
No single management theory offers all the solutions to your business concerns. Here are other popular management theories to consider besides Herzberg’s.
The Management Theory of Henry Mintzberg
Management Theory of Edgar Schein
The Management Theory of Mary Parker Follett
The Management Theory of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
Management Theory of Henri Fayol
The Management Theory of Max Weber
The Management Theory of Frederick Taylor
What Your Business Can Learn From Peter Drucker
Management Theory of Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Management Theory of Michael Porter
Management Theory of Elton Mayo
Management Theory of Henry Gantt
Management Theory of Joseph Juran
Management Theory of Charles Handy
Management Theory of Stephen Covey
Lambert suggested implementing expectancy theory as a complement to Herzberg’s theory.
“[Expectancy theory] attempts to overcome a common criticism of early motivation theories that all employees are alike,” Lambert said. “It fits well with Herzberg’s theory, as it considers that behavior is determined by a combination of forces, like Herzberg’s hygiene and motivator factors. It echoes Maslow in saying that employees have different needs, desires, and goals and are satisfied or rewarded by different outcomes. It goes on to say that people choose their behavior based on their desired outcomes — intrinsic or extrinsic — and that people make conscious decisions about their own behavior at work.”
Lambert noted that, well before the modern push for hybrid flexibility, Colorado State University professor Michael Steger’s Creating Meaning and Purpose at Work elucidated the importance of meaningful work as an intrinsic motivational factor.
“Steger found that meaningful work is a predictor of desirable work attitudes, such as job satisfaction, and was a better predictor of absenteeism than satisfaction,” Lambert said. “Meaningful work was associated with individual flourishing, citizenship, commitment and engagement, [as well as] long-term, sustainable innovation, culture and performance in businesses.”
Troyan recommended reading Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Google’s Project Aristotle research into high-performing teams. “In [Lencioni’s] research of high-performing teams, he identified the five characteristics that define highly functioning teams: trust, conflict, commitment, accountability and results,” Troyan said. “This team view takes the thinking to a broader level that, even with highly engaged employees, for a team to truly be great they have to be able to move up the pyramid of behaviors in working together.”
Troyan emphasized that Project Aristotle’s findings — that, in order of decreasing importance, psychological safety, dependability, structure and clarity, meaning and impact most strongly shape team effectiveness — overlap with Lencioni’s research. “The [Project Aristotle] researchers found that what really mattered was less about who is on the team, and more about how the team worked together,” Troyan said.
Herzberg’s theory explains how employees are driven to succeed — or feel disengaged and prone to underperformance — by what’s within and around them. Get employee input and expert help as you leverage the theory to improve your workplace for everyone. Your business will fare better — and, more importantly, your employees will be happier.
Danielle Fallon-O’Leary contributed to the reporting and writing in this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.
